The Leper and the Paralytic

¹² While He was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man ^[a]covered with leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” ¹³ And He stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately the leprosy left him. ¹⁴ And He ordered him to tell no one, “But go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” ¹⁵ But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. ¹⁶ But Jesus Himself would often slip away ^[b]to the ^[c]wilderness and pray.

^17 [d]One day He was teaching; and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing. ¹⁸ And some men were carrying on a ^[e]bed a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him. ¹⁹ But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. ²⁰ Seeing their faith, He said, “^[f]Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” ²¹ The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” ²² But Jesus, ^[g]aware of their reasonings, answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ²⁴ But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”—He said to the paralytic—“I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home.” ²⁵ Immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. ^26 [h]They were all struck with astonishment and began glorifying God; and they were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

Call of Levi (Matthew)

²⁷ After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named ^[i]Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” ²⁸ And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him.

²⁹ And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them. ³⁰ The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and ^[j]sinners?” ³¹ And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

³³ And they said to Him, “The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do ^[k]the same, but Yours eat and drink.” ³⁴ And Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the ^[l]attendants of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? ³⁵ But the days will come; and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.” ³⁶ And He was also telling them a parable: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. ³⁷ And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. ³⁸ But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. ³⁹ And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, ‘The old is good enough.’”

Parable of Two Eagles and a Vine

17 Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, ² “Son of man, propound a riddle and speak a parable to the house of Israel, ^3 [a]saying, ‘Thus says the Lord ^[b]God, “A great eagle with great wings, long pinions and a full plumage of many colors came to Lebanon and took away the top of the cedar. ⁴ He plucked off the topmost of its young twigs and brought it to a land of merchants; he set it in a city of traders. ⁵ He also took some of the seed of the land and planted it in ^[c]fertile soil. He ^[d]placed it beside abundant waters; he set it like a willow. ⁶ Then it sprouted and became a low, spreading vine with its branches turned toward him, but its roots remained under it. So it became a vine and yielded shoots and sent out branches.

⁷ “But there was ^[e]another great eagle with great wings and much plumage; and behold, this vine bent its roots toward him and sent out its branches toward him from the beds where it was planted, that he might water it. ⁸ It was planted in good ^[f]soil beside abundant waters, that it might yield branches and bear fruit and become a splendid vine.”’ ⁹ Say, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Will it thrive? Will he not pull up its roots and cut off its fruit, so that it withers—so that all its sprouting leaves wither? And neither by great ^[g]strength nor by many people can it be raised from its roots again. ¹⁰ Behold, though it is planted, will it thrive? Will it not completely wither as soon as the east wind strikes it—wither on the beds where it grew?”’”

Zedekiah’s Rebellion

¹¹ Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹² “Say now to the rebellious house, ‘Do you not know what these things mean?’ Say, ‘Behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, took its king and princes and brought them to him in Babylon. ¹³ He took one of the royal ^[h]family and made a covenant with him, ^[i]putting him under oath. He also took away the mighty of the land, ¹⁴ that the kingdom might be ^[j]in subjection, not exalting itself, but keeping his covenant that it might continue. ¹⁵ But he rebelled against him by sending his envoys to Egypt that they might give him horses and many ^[k]troops. Will he succeed? Will he who does such things escape? Can he indeed break the covenant and escape? ¹⁶ As I live,’ declares the Lord God, ‘Surely in the ^[l]country of the king who ^[m]put him on the throne, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke, ^[n]in Babylon he shall die. ¹⁷ Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company will not ^[o]help him in the war, when they cast up ramps and build siege walls to cut off many lives. ¹⁸ Now he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, and behold, he ^[p]pledged his allegiance, yet did all these things; he shall not escape.’” ¹⁹ Therefore, thus says the Lord God, “As I live, surely My oath which he despised and My covenant which he broke, I will ^[q]inflict on his head. ²⁰ I will spread My net over him, and he will be caught in My snare. Then I will bring him to Babylon and enter into judgment with him there regarding the unfaithful act which he has committed against Me. ²¹ All the ^[r]choice men in all his troops will fall by the sword, and the survivors will be scattered to every wind; and you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken.”

²² Thus says the Lord God, “I will also take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and set it out; I will pluck from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one and I will plant it on a high and lofty mountain. ²³ On the high mountain of Israel I will plant it, that it may bring forth boughs and bear fruit and become a stately cedar. And birds of every ^[s]kind will ^[t]nest under it; they will ^[u]nest in the shade of its branches. ²⁴ All the trees of the field will know that I am the Lord; I bring down the high tree, exalt the low tree, dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will perform it.”